General Student

A student at Franklin and Marshall College discusses gender roles and power hierarchies in the party culture. They describe their typical weekend as low-key, focused on homework and spending time with friends. They mention their anxiety as a reason for not attending crowded parties. Safety concerns are also discussed, but they haven't heard of any major issues among their friends. They express interest in going to bars but haven't had the chance due to workload. They mention a positive experience at a queers-only club and express a desire for a similar space closer to campus. The student doesn't know anyone in the Lofts and doesn't see significant differences between their school's party culture and others. They would like parties to be less crowded and more open to all students. They mention the existence of guest lists for certain parties, which they find odd for a non-party school. Hello, my name is Rachel Rubens, and I'm here interviewing a student at Franklin and Marshall College. It is November 9th, 2023, and we are recording in Martin Library. We will be discussing gender roles and the hierarchies of power in Franklin and Marshall's party culture. So now to start, could you just tell me, introduce yourself and your involvement on campus. I am a senior. My involvements on campus include Saga, or Sexuality and Gender Alliance, and the Harbaugh Club. And if you feel comfortable, you can share your gender identity as well. Non-binary. And now, so walk me through a typical weekend at Franklin and Marshall for you. Mine's pretty boring. A typical weekend at FNM for me is Friday nights I don't do anything. I usually spend Friday nights occasionally. I'll watch a movie with friends, but for the most part, I do homework on Friday. Saturday, I spend the entire day either playing games by myself or hanging out with friends. It depends. Saturday night is usually more me time. Occasionally a social event, but very rare. And then Sunday, I think as per most FNM people, is just grind time all day Sunday. And so when you do go to social events, can you walk me through what types of social events they are? Again, it depends on the weekend, because sometimes it's like my clubs will do movie nights, and I do have Saga meetings every Friday night. So I have that. And then for movie, we have an entire rack of board games at my house. So we'll do board game nights. What else do we do? Yeah, just like simple stuff. So have you ever attended a party at FNM that's been labeled either a mixer or some type of event at night where a bunch of different groups mix together? No. Is there something in particular that keeps you from going? What keeps me from going is I've been diagnosed with anxiety, and so going to places where it is so loud and oftentimes everyone is so packed together. I like to call FNM parties sardine parties, because everyone is literally just packed in sardines, especially in BSU. So I'm just like, I have no interest to do that, and I haven't really had anybody to go with that I've felt 100% safe with and knew that they wouldn't get too drunk, and then things would go wrong. So it's just for my own safety and my mental health, I haven't heard from anyone. So when you bring up safety, have you heard from friends who have gone out about issues with safety or anything like that? Not really. I mean, there's like the freak stuff, like the gunman at Sci-Fi. Was that last weekend or the weekend before? I think it was last weekend. So stuff like that. I grew up very rural, so Lancaster is very urban for me. So walking the city at night is absolutely terrifying to me. So I think that's part of it, and I don't think I've ever had any of my friends. My friends have gotten too drunk at parties, but I don't think they've ever had, as far as I know, no one's been sexually assaulted or physically assaulted, but more just a little bit too much. Definitely. And are you over 21? I am over 21. Have you ever gone to the bar scene near campus or downtown? I've been meaning to every single time. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to do that this weekend. Turns out I have a paper that weekend, and I'm like, dang it. I've just been buried in work this entire semester, and I've turned 21 over the summer, so it's like I haven't really had a chance to go do it yet, because I've just been trying to keep up with work over and over again. But that is something you plan on? Yeah, I am interested in going to TELUS. I want to go to, is it QBC? QSB? QSB. Oh my gosh. I'm very tired. It is a Thursday. But yeah, I'm interested in going to those. Last year, there was an 18 plus club in Millersville that was a queers only night, every Wednesday night, and I went to those a few times, and it was fun. But they had a section for people who were drinking, and you weren't allowed to be out on the dance floor with your drinks, and I wasn't 21 at that point, so I wasn't drinking. Did you feel overwhelmed there at those parties? No, because most of the time, and the reason they're not doing it again this year is because of lack of turnout, so most of the time, the only people that were there were me and maybe 10 other people in this room that's meant for concerts, so it didn't feel overwhelming at all, because there was just so few of us. I knew everyone very well that was in the room. Do you wish there was something like that closer by? Definitely. It's also just because I've grown up so entwined with the queer community, being in a queer club just feels very safe to me. Actually, I take that back. I have felt unsafe in a queer club before, but that was because someone was absolutely plastered and did not have control over himself. But just being around queer people, I usually feel safer than in a room full of straight men. Do you know anyone that lives in the Lofts? No. Well, I know someone. I don't really talk to her that much anymore, but most of my friends either live with me on College Ave or live in one of the West James apartments. I know a few people in Crowe. So, when you talk to your friends at other schools, are there any big differences that you see between your experience at Franklin and Marshall and then their schools? Not really, from what I've understood. Obviously, bigger schools have bigger parties and there's more of them and they're a little bit more ingrained in the culture. But at FNM, you don't have to be involved in the party culture and still be a part of campus. I'm very involved on campus, but I don't go to parties. For the most part, people know who I am. So, you're able to still be, how do I word this? I don't want to say socially popular because that's such a high school thing. But you're able to be a participant in social life on campus without being a member of party life and going to parties every weekend. Got it. If there was one thing you could change about the party scene in general at FNM or the social scene, what would it be? Make the parties less full, man. I wouldn't mind going to a party, but it's just like if I'm packed in that tightly with that many people, it's not going to work for me. So, like the space of the loft buildings? Yeah. And even the houses too? Yeah. Every party I've seen videos of, just everyone's packed in there and there's no room to do anything. And it's just like that is so overwhelming to me. The lofts aren't as bad because most of them have the high ceilings, but some of them I'm like, how are you guys not claustrophobic in there? So yeah, I guess just stuff like that. I would like to see parties more open maybe because a lot of parties, especially in the last couple of years, you have to be on a list to get into them. So that's also been a thing about party life. But yeah, again, I'm not super involved in party life, so I don't have a ton I would change about that aspect. So when you mentioned the list, what types of organizations have lists or what else do you know about that? I mainly know that I think it started with Skulls having a list for their parties. Only certain people are allowed into Skulls. And now it's gone to Phi Phi and you have to know someone in Phi Phi or know someone else that's on the list to be able to get in. And that just feels really weird to me, especially since, again, we aren't a big party school. We aren't your average party school. So it's like you would think you would want as many people as possible to come to the parties you are having. But I don't know. It just feels weird. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.